Ok, yep - you've got me on that one.....I don't pay rent, and I did get a flight worth about 2 million won tacked on.

But, one thing that I do find strange is that at YBM, known for how low it's wages are for foreign teachers, the salaries for Korean teachers is so much higher than any other hagwans.

I mean, I have Korean friends who are teachers at other hagwans and they are excited that they make 1.4m - then there is YBM, and being that it's such a cheapskate instituion in soooo many ways I am just surprised that they pay their native teachers so much higher than the average seems to be, and that some of the teachers make more than the average first-year foreigners. Just an observation that struck me as odd, that's all.

Only other interesting point is that the Korean teachers at my school speak english so poorly, that they take their little electronic translators to their 6-year old classes....when the vocab is numbers, colours and the alphabet......SO, for any Koreans out there looking for relatively high pay with relatively few hours, you don't need to actually speak or understand english to teach at YBM!

Teachers at the better hagwans are often older and more experienced (doesn't mean their English is necessarily better--most don't teach conversation) and in a number of cases have a Korean Masters, have lived abroad or have studied and/or received some kind of certificate from abroad. Many of the ones at the small hagwans are university age with no experience, and thus puny salaries that still thrill them in comparison with most university jobs, or are ajumas whose income simply augments what their husband is already making.

Hamu : Do you pay for your own house? If so i would agree with you but considering that even a tiny one room studio in Seoul costs 700,000-1M per month and assuming the korean teacher is not provided with housing i think you're wrong.

Where? In Gangnam-Gu? maybe, but plenty of cheaper places in Seoul. My g/friend pays 350,000/month for her place, thats including utilties. Her place is a 10-minute walk from Sillim Station.

Ok, yep - you've got me on that one.....I don't pay rent, and I did get a flight worth about 2 million won tacked on.

But, one thing that I do find strange is that at YBM, known for how low it's wages are for foreign teachers, the salaries for Korean teachers is so much higher than any other hagwans.

I mean, I have Korean friends who are teachers at other hagwans and they are excited that they make 1.4m - then there is YBM, and being that it's such a cheapskate instituion in soooo many ways I am just surprised that they pay their native teachers so much higher than the average seems to be, and that some of the teachers make more than the average first-year foreigners. Just an observation that struck me as odd, that's all.

Only other interesting point is that the Korean teachers at my school speak english so poorly, that they take their little electronic translators to their 6-year old classes....when the vocab is numbers, colours and the alphabet......SO, for any Koreans out there looking for relatively high pay with relatively few hours, you don't need to actually speak or understand english to teach at YBM!

My g/friend works at a YBM/ECC branch, makes around 1.4 million/month. She's the lowest paid at her branch (fewest classes) though. She speaks English very well as do most of the Korean teachers at her branch. Obviously one YBM branch varies a lot from another one.

If you want to see poor English speaking Korean teachers, you should go to my hogwon- its pretty scary.